“Catch Me If You Can,” the story of Frank W. Abagnale, Jr., was the basis of a hit movie that was the eleventh highest grossing film of 2002. Now, “Catch Me If You Can” has been brought to life as a full-scale musical. The show’s national tour touches down at the Academy of Music from January 15-20 as part of the Kimmel Center’s Broadway Series.

The cast features Allyson Tolbert in one of the principal roles. The talented actress/dancer is a University of Florida graduate who hasroots in West Chester.

“I lived in West Chester when I was young and then my family moved to Florida,” said Tolbert, during a recent phone interview from a tour stop in Fayetteville, Arkansas. “My mother’s side of the family is all from West Chester and my grandfather worked at Cheyney.”

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Tolbert’s grandfather Ed Lawrence was the highly-respected, long-time Athletic Director at Cheyney State College (now Cheyney University) who eventually left Cheyney to take a similar position at a college in Alaska and now is retired in Florida.

“I graduated from the University of Florida in 2006 with a B.F.A. in musical theater performance,” said Tolbert. “It was a really good program. They only accept four to six new students each year. The university was great. I loved being a Gator.”

After performing in national tours of “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Producers”, Tolbert landed a role in “Catch Me If You Can”, a lively, fun-filled musical that is on its first national tour. It tells Abagnale’s almost unbelievable, but totally true, story of chicanery back in the 1960s.

Before Abagnale even turned 19, he had become a successful con man who had bilked people for millions of dollars by posing as a Pan American World Airways pilot, a Georgia doctor, a lawyer and a variety of other assumed identities. One of the most famous impostors ever, he escaped from police custody twice (once from a U.S. federal penitentiary and once from a taxiing airliner) before he was 21 years old.

“I think people realize that this show is set in a time when we were really naïve, a time before questioning and being cautious,” said Tolbert, who now lives in New York.

“Frank would do things like changing his name on documents and changing numbers at the bottom of checks. Younger kids can realize that this is not a world that exists anymore.”

Tolbert’s big number is when she sings “Doctor’s Orders.”

“When Frank ends up in Atlanta and pretends to be a doctor, he was asking himself why he did things like this,” said Tolbert. “We (the cast’s ensemble of pretty actresses) come out in sexy nurse’s outfits and try to seduce him into staying.

“Amazingly, he was able to get away with things like this in real life. We’ve met him several times when he came to see us on tour and he said he got away with it because he never stayed anywhere too long —and he was young enough not to be scared.

“I read his book and did a lot of research on him. Three presidents offered to pardon him and he refused each time.”

Abagnale has been associated with the FBI for more than 35 years, lecturing extensively at the FBI Academy and for the field offices of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He is a faculty member at the National Advocacy Center (NAC) which is operated by the U.S. Department of Justice. More than 14,000 financial institutions, corporations and law enforcement agencies use his fraud prevention programs.

“When Frank talks to us, he looks back at what he’s done,” said Tolbert. “He said that (young) Frank was all about the ladies, not about the money.”

“Catch Me If You Can” tells the amazing story of how he acquired both.

“Catch Me If You Can” will run from January 15-20 at the Academy of Music (Broad and Locust streets, Philadelphia, 215-893-1999, www.kimmelcenter.org/broadway). Tickets range from $20-$100.